I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson.
Read the full "Pre-ramble"

The influential
show had first appeared in 1947. Kraft had discovered the value of
entertainment sponsorship back in 1933, when it launched the radio program Kraft
Music Hall specifically to introduce Miracle Whip. The product took off and
so did Kraft's media ventures. Kraft Television Theater featured
televised comedies and dramas starring a different cast every week. The series'
first production cost only $3,000, but by 1958 the network paid at least
$100,000 per production. Jack Lemmon, James Dean, Grace Kelly, Anthony Perkins,
and Paul Newman were among the stars that appeared on the program.

October 2, 1928

George Robert Phillips
"Spanky" McFarland was born.Most famous for his appearances in the Our Gang
series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. The Our Gang
shorts were later popular after being syndicated to television as The Little Rascals. In 1952, at age 24, McFarland joined the U.S. Air
Force. Upon his return to civilian life, indelibly typecast in
the public's mind as "Spanky" from Our Gang, he found himself
unable to find work in show business. He took less glamorous jobs, including
work at a soft drink plant, a hamburger
stand, popsicle
factory, selling wine, operating a restaurant and night club, and selling appliances,
electronics and furniture. In the late 1950s, when the Our Gang comedies
were sweeping the nation on TV, McFarland hosted an afternoon children's show,
"Spanky's Clubhouse," on KOTV television in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The show included a studio audience and appearances by other celebrities such
as James Arness, and it ran Little Rascals shorts.

Spanky loaned his name and celebrity to help raise money for charities,
primarily by participating in golf tournaments. Spanky also had his own
namesake charity golf classic for 16 years, held in Marion,
Indiana.
McFarland continued to do personal appearances and cameo roles in films and
television, including an appearance on The Tonight Show starring Johnny
Carson.

His final television performance was in 1993 in an introductory
vignette at the beginning of the Cheers episode "Woody Gets An Election".
McFarland died suddenly of a heart attack on June 30, 1993, at age 64. His remains were cremated shortly thereafter.
In January 1994, “Spanky” joined fellow alumnus Jackie
Cooper to become one of only two Our Gang members to receive a star
on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

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Pre-ramble

I represent the first generation whom, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson.
Read the full "Pre-ramble"